Metal-bending machine



(No Model.)

-R. LAVERY.

y y METAL BBNDING MACHINE. y No. 450,241. Patented Apr. 14,1891;

j? J Z 2 mg Z 2 1 f` d i UNITED STATES ?ATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD LAVERY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

lVlETAL-BENDlNG MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 450,241, dated April 14, 1891.

` A Application filed June 20,1890. Serial No. 356,078. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, RTCHARD LAVEEY, of.

Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Metal-Bending Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, isA a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to machines used for bending metal; and has for its object to improve and simplify the construction of the same, whereby they are adapted to a more generalclass of work and capable of a more convenient and finer adjustment. In ship construction the angle -irons which are to form the frame of the ship are first shaped and beveled while hot, but in cooling, and also in the process of punching the holes for the rivets, the angle-irons become more or less distorted, it being necessary to afterward recurve them while cold, my improved machine being particularly adapted to this latter operation. In vaccordance with this invention the metal, in bar or other form, is supported upon a table or bed in front of two or more properly-shaped pins or blocks, between which the bar is subjected to the action of a reciprocating block or head, adjustably mounted on a threaded rotatable shaft carried by and made movable with a sliding head reciprocated-from a crank or 'eccentric on the usual main shaft, suitable means being provided by which to rotate the said threaded shaft to regulate the position of the said reciprocating block or head thereon. The pins or blocks referred to, against which the bar is placed, and also the reciprocating block or head, are formed to present a number of diiferent shapes to accommodate varying shapes of metal to be curved.

One part of my invention therefore consists in the combination, with the bed and a shaft carried thereby, of a head adapted to be reciprocated from the said shaft, a threaded shaft movable longitudinally with said head, and a bending-block adj ustably mounted on the said threaded shaft, to operate substantially as will be described.

Other featuresof my invention will be hereinafter pointed out in the claims at the ends of this specification.

Figure l shows in plan view a metal-bending machine embodying this invention; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a longitudinal section taken onthe dotted line ocx, Fig. l; Fig. 4, arght-hand end elevation ot' Fig. l; Figs 5 and 6, sectional details taken respectively, on the dotted lines oc Je and x2 x2, Fig. 1; and Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10, details to be referred to.

Referring to the drawings,the bed A ofthe machine, supported on suitable standards A', has suitable bearings for the main shaft ct,

having fast thereon the gear-wheel a2, meshing with the pinion CL3, fast on the countershaft a4, mounted in suitable bearings carried by one of the standards A', and provided with a pulley a5, driven by a belt not shown. The main shaft a is provided at its middle with a crank or eccentric a', preferably of short throw, on which is journaled one end of the connecting-rod b, jointed at its opposite end to the head c, fitted to slide on suitable guides c', formed'in the bed A, (see Fig. 5,) so that when the shaft ctis rotated the head c` will be slowly reciprocated. The head c is represented as formed of twohalves or members bolted together and inclosing loosely between them the collars d on the threaded rotatable shaft d, fitted at it-s outer end to slide freely through a hole in the bed A and to receive outside thereof a hand-Wheel d2, by which to rotate the said shaft. The threaded shaft d receives upon it the block e, provided with anged guides e', and fitted to slide in suitable guideways formed in the bed A, (see Fig. 6,) the said block at its upper part having upon opposite sides the vertical dovetail grooves 2, which receive the dovetail projections 3 on the former-blocks f. (See Figs. l and 7.) The bed A of the machine is provided With a number of holes h to receive the shanks h of the removable pins or blocks h2, which may be circular in cross-section. The

bar m to be bent is placed upon the table or bed, as shown in Fig. 1, and in front of the pins h2, the bar to be bent or straightened being herein represented as a piece of angle iron or steel.

Upon starting theA machine the lblock e is reci procated slowly, and by turning the handwheel cl2 in one direction said reciprocating block is brought forward on the threaded IOO shaft d with relation to the head c, so that said i block will strike against the bar at each forward movement, springing the same and giving a slight set at cach movement, the amount of spring and permanent setbeing regulated by turning the hand-wheel cl2. If the bar is straightened or bent too much, or if it is desired to bend a bar in the opposite direction, it maybe shifted to or placed at the opposite side of the reciprocating block e and the hand-wheel d2 turned in the opposite direction to carry the reciprocating block e back on the threaded. shaft d to cause said block to strike against the bar from the opposite side thereof at 4each backward movement, springing the same and giving to it a slight set in the opposite direction to thereby bend or unbend the same as required.

In modern iron-work, particularly ship construction, it is customary to usewhat is knownas Z-bars, of iron or steel. These bars, as well as the angle-bars previously referred to7 are rst shaped while hot and punched, and in most cases are beveled or opened out, mak` ing them flatter, as shown in Figs'. 9 and l0, to adapt them to the lines of the ship. These bars must also be recurved after they have become cooled, and in order to do this without destroying the sectional angles, I have provided pins or blocks h2,- (see Figs. 7, S, 0, and 10,) embodying a number of different shapes, as s s s2, to engage the beveled Z- bars top and bottom only, so as to preserve the proper angles While curving the same. lVhen the bar is placed upon the bed, the pins h2 are turned until the proper section s is presented to the bar to engage it top and bottom opposite the horizontal anges.

It is obvious that the pins h2 may be provided with sections s adapted to a bar of any shape whatsoever.

Byl the construction shown the machine is capable of an adjustment limited only by the length of the threaded shaft d, which gives great range of adjustment.

I do not herein claim, broadly, the combination, with two pins to support the bar, of a reciprocating head to act on the metal between the pins.

I claiml. The combination, with the bed, pins or blocks thereon, and a shaft carried thereby, of a head adapted to be reciprocated from the said shaft, a threaded shaft movable'longitudinally with said head, and abending-block provided with two opposite bending-faces adj ustably mounted on the said threaded shaft, the said head and bending-block when reciprocated moving in a line between the said pins or blocks, substantially as described.

2. The combination, With the bed A, pins or blocks thereon, andashaft a supported thereby, of a head adapted to be reciprocated from the said shaft on aline between the said pins` or blocks, the threaded shaft d, rotatable'il' and movable longitudinally with said head, the block e, provided with two opposite bending-faces adj ustably mounted on the said shaft d, and the wheel d2 on said threaded shaft, to operate substantially as described.

3. In a machine for bending metal, the coinbination, with the bed having holes h and the reciprocating block e., of pins or blocks for said holes formed to present sections of dit'- ferent shapes, substantially as described.

4. The bed A and pins or blocks thereon, and a shaft a, provided with a crank, combined with a pitman h, head c, consisting of two halves or members, the rotatable threaded shaft CZ, loosely held in said head, and the block e, adjustably carried by said shaft, to operate substantially as described.

5. In a metal-bending machine, a bed, a shaft carried thereby, a table on which the metal to be bent is placed, and pins or blocks thereon, combined with a head adapted to be reciprocated from the said shaft, a threaded shaft placed below the surface of said table and movable longitudinally with said head, and a bending-block adjustably mounted on said threaded shaft and projecting laterally above the surface of said table,'whereby the reciprocating movement of said bendihgname to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

. RICHARD LAVERX Titnessesz J As. H. CHURCHILL, EMMA J. BENNETT. 

